


How Fortunate

by AwkwardPlatypus13



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hoshi Meguri (IDOLiSH7), Festivals, Fortune Telling, Gen, Pranks and Practical Jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27679760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwkwardPlatypus13/pseuds/AwkwardPlatypus13
Summary: Sardinia is fulfilling his royal duties of planning and hosting Sirena’s rain festival where all of the rulers of the stars are in attendance. Will everything go smoothly as he meets with them and gives them their fortunes as a sign of goodwill?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8
Collections: Celestial Skies Zine





	How Fortunate

Smooth beginnings. Several encounters. A perturbed guest. These were the premonitions Sardinia got when he drew his own fortune the morning before Pioggiarito, Sirena’s annual rain festival, was set to begin. “ _ Not exactly the most helpful of predictions _ ,” he mused to himself as he sat in silence on the balcony off his chambers. Smooth beginnings he hoped meant all of the preparations of today would be successful and result in a successful first few days of the weeklong celebration. 

Several encounters— that was obvious, and nothing to worry about. As king, Sardinia was obligated to greet all the dignitaries and influential people that would attend the masquerade ball occurring on the fourth night. That was a mere formality Sardinia was quite used to at this point. Although this time, all the rulers of the other stars had responded to his invites and promised to be there for the ball. The part that concerned him the most was the vague thought of a guest becoming unhappy. Would it be a guest at the ball? A guest from a neighboring star...could one of his encounters with one of the foriegn dignitaries go sour? 

A knock on his door broke him from the string of hypothetical situations he was running through. He called out a plain yet commanding “Enter” and went back into his room to sit at his dressing table. A young maid shyly walked in with a bowed head, holding a breakfast tray and the day’s to-do list.

“Ah, thank you,” Sardinia’s tone lightened slightly as he waved her forward to place down his tray. Receiving the scroll and starting on his breakfast, he read the list to himself, “Oversee the decorating of the royal gondola, last check of the menu, final evaluation of the stall runners, giving a speech of gratitude to the workers, final fitting for the royal mask and robe, and rehearsal of the opening speech. Ah, and visit the ports to welcome the dignitaries as their ships arrive.”

He nodded as he sliced through his eggs and chewed slowly. “That’s right, most are all arriving tonight.... I wouldn’t doubt it if Fang finds a way to slip into port before we are open for guests,” he mildly commented as he brought his fork to his mouth. As he continued his breakfast, he began mentally preparing himself for whatever may happen. 

“DAMN IT, ERIN!” Orion fumed as he aggressively set his tea cup on the table within the captain’s quarters of his vessel. “You put salt in this, for the second time—”

“Third~” Erin said through a hand-covered smirk.

“Whatever! I am sick of your antics! You’re not allowed to leave the ship now.”

“Eh!? The entire week, Your Majesty??” His smirk fell and his expression contorted. “That isn’t fair!”

He wiped his chin with a handkerchief and scowled unwaveringly. “I made my decree. You’re forbidden to leave for the entire week unless it’s an emergency. We won’t be needing this either.” Opening his desk drawer, he pulled out Erin’s invite to the masquerade ball and dropped it into the trash-can. Erin puffed his cheeks out and crossed his arms, wanting to protest more. “Now that you’ve spoiled my tea yet again, I’m gonna head out now. If I get word from the crew that you are acting out or have left, I will never take you to a festival ever again. Do I make myself clear?”

“.....Yessir.”

“Good. Behave. I’ll see you in a week.” 

The first three days of Pioggiarito went incredibly well. Sardinia made his speeches, walked through the festival, socialized with his townspeople, and even ran into Shinkai a few times while he roamed the stalls playing his flute to add to the ambiance. Sardinia oversaw everything, monitoring for any signs of trouble, but nothing major showed up, only a few instances of minor items going missing at stalls. But anyone could have miscounted how many pastries they put out on sale or ended up with a few lost things thanks to sticky-fingered children, right? Smooth beginnings came true, Sardinia surmised, now on to several encounters.

The masquerade ball on the evening of the fourth day was certainly the time for several encounters to be fulfilled. Sardinia donned his most ornate robes and put on his mask, designed to resemble iridescent fish scales that glimmer with every turn of his head. He opened the ball with a short speech thanking everyone for coming, though he was slightly distracted by the premonition that something was going to turn sour this evening. Feeling a pair of intense eyes on him amongst the innocuous onlookers, Sardinia looked out on the outskirts of his guests, yet nobody seemed out of the ordinary. Once he declared the ball as officially begun, he started making his rounds as king and greeted his guests. However, before that, he pulled Shinkai away from his position as flautist in the live orchestra.

“What can I do for you, Your Highness?” Shinkai said with a bow.

“You have been everywhere these past three days and here all day. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary, or perhaps had any visions?” He would never admit it, but there was a shred of worry lurking in the corners of his eyes. 

Shinkai eyed him silently a moment, then tried to think. “There was someone who seemed to have tripped over nothing this afternoon, and someone’s fish cart became detached from their horse. It seems premonitions of your own have been getting to you, Highness. I would heed them, if I were you.”

“I see. Thank you, you may get back to your music.” Sardinia swept the train of his outer robe so that he could turn and glide away. “ _ Such vague advice as usual, Shinkai… I will have to keep vigilant for trouble then. _ ”

With more scrutiny than normal, Sardinia walked through the ballroom, greeting minor dignitaries as he passed them. While speaking to the landowner of the most valuable hydroponic farm, he noticed the nearby table cloth was tucked into the man’s pocket. Sensing a pair of eyes on him again, he warned the man, who had no clue how it got there, and then distractedly walked away. 

Sardinia nearly ran into Hope and Curse, who were wearing masks that resembled white dragon faces. Hope had been moving his mask to take a sip from his glass of wine. 

“Oh, King Sardinia! Amazing party— I mean, wonderful ball and festival!” Hope said after stopping himself from occupying his mouth with his drink. 

“Hope, Curse, thank you very much for coming. I know you have been quite preoccupied with new trade agreements, so it is an honor you made time for this.”

“Hope needed a break, and more practice in handling conversations with dignitaries.” Curse ruffled Hope’s hair with a bemused grin.

“Curse, I-I’m not a child anymore. But he’s right, I needed a day off from all those uncertain decisions…”

Sardinia smiled and offered, “Your fortune might help, if you would like me to read it for you, as a way of thanking you for visiting.” 

Once Hope agreed, they sat down so that Sardinia could perform the process. He pulled his tarot cards out of his billowy sleeve and held the deck in his left hand. With his eyes closed, he settled his mind, tapping the top of the deck with his right index finger before shuffling the cards. Opening his eyes, he cut the deck into three piles, then reassembled the deck. He fanned the cards out towards Hope and gave a serene command: “Choose three cards.” Indecisively, Hope chose his cards and gave them to Sardinia, who placed them face-up in the center of the table. Knight of Wands, The World, Seven of Wands. Carefully, he explained what these meant.

“So...All the success we’ll have with the agreements I just signed will be successful, but I’ll have even more competition and more deals to make?” Hope asked with a tired frown.

“Don’t forget he also said you would be successful if you play your cards right. I’ll be here with you to help, too,” Curse reminded warmly.

Sardinia didn’t hear Hope’s reply, as he was already excusing himself to greet Vega and Capella who were coming from the food table. He exchanged pleasantries with them, then offered to read Vega’s fortune. Before allowing Vega to sit, Capella brushed away a group of rather pointy-looking pebbles from the chair. Nobody around looked suspicious as Sardinia glanced at the nearby guests, so he read his fortune. The Hermit: an allusion to Vega’s time while asleep, Two of Swords: a crossroads in his decisions on what to do next, Six of Wands: a form of success. Surmising that this was about Capella trying to get Vega to spend more time outside of the Grand Sanctuary, Vega decided he’d try to take Capella’s advice and thanked Sardinia. 

After accepting Vega’s thanks, Sardinia swept out of his chair with a gracious bow, and strode across the room to a vase on the verge of falling off a pedestal. Fang, with Coda in tow, called out to him as he fixed it. Fang kept at a distance, explaining that he had just recovered from his first cold he had gotten in ages. At Sardinia offering to give him his fortune, Fang politely refused, preferring “to keep the future in the future so that he can keep chasing it as nature intended it”. They bowed in respect, Fang clapping Sardinia on the back and offering him good luck. 

Carnelian also turned down hearing his fortune, all too aware of his present struggle of returning to the throne and reluctant to hear what his future held. Shaking hands, Carnelian mentioned seeing a tablecloth oddly swaying by where King Orion was sitting. Just as Sardina was approaching Orion, who was sitting alone by the drinks table, he noticed a black boot sticking out from under the tablecloth on the drinks table. Casually striding past it, Sardinia stepped hard on the foot, making its owner quietly yelp out in pain. 

“Welcome to my star, King Orion. I hope you have found it to be to your satisfaction.”

“Sardinia. There’s too much water here. Why do you have to have a giant waterfall in the middle of the room?”

“...Because it is a rain festival— water is our focal point.” He gets distracted as he watches Erin emerge from under the table and grab the punch bowl. About to warn Orion that his servant intended to dump the bowl over his head, Sardinia was left open-mouthed as Orion continued.

“I mean I get that, but most balls have an ice sculpture, or a fountain. Isn’t a waterfall showy and ostentatious?”

Sardinia closed his mouth a moment, pulling his eyes away from a wordlessly pleading Erin to give Orion an ingratiating smile. “Perhaps it is. To show you my gratitude for showing up to my ‘ostentatious’ masquerade ball, I would like to read your future.”

“.....Oh. Alright. That’s nice of you. Go ahead.”

“Disgruntled guest. Drenched. Laughter.”

“Haah? What kind of future is th— GUWAAAHH!!!” Orion found himself covered in ice cold punch and fruit slices, his ears suddenly filled with all-too-familiar cackling. “ERIIIIIIIIIIN!!!”

Sardinia clasped his hands and smirked as he watched Orion dash after Erin, who was still laughing as he bolted from the ballroom. “Now that our disgruntled guest has removed himself, hopefully the rest of my festival flows smoothly.”


End file.
